Drew Carey Hosts Phish New Year’s Eve Afterparty as DJ Blender

Photo Credit: Joshua Frances

In the early hours of New Year’s Day, the story of Phish and Drew Carey continued after the band’s New Year’s Eve series finale. Carey, who found a place in the hearts of Phish fans everywhere following an unforgettable response to his experience at Sphere, kept the music coming after Phish’s fourth and final Madison Square Garden staging of 2024 with an afterparty at Hill Country Barbecue. Billed only as DJ Blender, the comedian and host of The Price is Right was not officially confirmed for the post-show until he appeared behind the boards.

Carey helmed the afterparty alongside Tad Cautious, host of revered Phish festival radio station The Bunny, and DJ Cooley. The surprise entertainer dished out a set heavy on funk jams with a syncopated dance beat; Joe Marcinek captured video of him grooving along to Lettuce’s 2018 floor-filling deep cut “Sam Huff’s Flying Raging Machine.” Before the afters, Carey joined in the excitement at The Garden, where he was seen across the floor wearing a shirt that read “I Don’t Know The Price of Anything.”

Carey’s rapid entry into the fold of Phish fans began with a cheeky and striking April 23 tweet, in which he swore that “I would give you all my money, stick my dick in a blender and swear off pussy for the rest of my life in exchange for this.” Wide-eyed at the majesty of peak-performance Phish, he concluded, “Bro I met God tonight for real. I feel like I just got saved by Jesus no lie.” Phish noted their appreciation for Carey’s glowing review by gifting him a blender, with a message from frontman Trey Anastasio, who penned on the boxed kitchen appliance, “So thrilled you could be at The Sphere with us! Hope you enjoy this gift and let’s do it again.”

The comedian crossed paths with Phish again in June, when he joined Mike Gordon on stage at Los Angeles’ Teragram Ballroom during the bassist’s run of intimate solo shows. For the closing entry of his first frame of the evening, Gordon set out Tiny Little World” from his 2014 solo LP Overstep, which became a vehicle for what has since been termed the “blender jam.” As he raced through the standout select, the artist made jaws drop when he pulled out a blender and held a microphone to the whirring appliance in the middle of a spaced-out, contemplative jam. Before long, Carey emerged to rehearse his widely circulated blender incident; the special guest fished around in his pockets for a while and whipped out a vegan sausage, then tossed it into the still-running blender to the delight of fans everywhere.

Phish will return at the end of the month for their annual Riviera Maya run, featuring four days of performances at Quintana Roo, Mexico’s Moon Palace Cancun from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1. Fans can be relatively sure that Carey will have another crossing with the band sometime this year.